FEMA and federal partners continue to mobilize resources and urge residents to make preparations

by jmaloni

Press release

Tue, Oct 30th 2012 11:30 am

At the direction of
President Obama, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is
coordinating the federal government's assistance and preparations to
support states affected by Hurricane Sandy.

On Monday, the president
received a briefing on Hurricane Sandy in the White House Situation
Room, including an update on the deployment of teams and resources to
potentially affected areas by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano,
FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate, Transportation Secretary Raymond Lahood, Energy
Secretary Steven Chu and National Hurricane Center Director Richard Knabb.

The president has
authorized emergency declarations for Connecticut, Delaware, the
District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The president's action authorizes FEMA
to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to provide assistance for
required emergency measures to save lives and to protect property and
public health and safety. The president continues to direct Fugate to
ensure that federal partners continue to bring all available
resources to bear to support state, tribal and local responders in
potentially affected areas.

Currently, more than 1,500
FEMA personnel are positioned along the East Coast working to support
disaster preparedness and response operations, including search and
rescue, situational awareness, communications and logistical support.
In addition, 28 teams comprised of 294 FEMA Corps members are
pre-staged to support Hurricane Sandy efforts. Three federal urban
search and rescue task forces are positioned in the mid-Atlantic and
ready to deploy as needed and requested. An additional four federal
search and rescue task forces in the midwest have been placed on
alert and are ready for deployment, as requested and needed. Fourteen
incident management assistance teams and 12 liaison officers are
positioned in potentially affected states along the East Coast to
support preparedness activities and ensure there are no unmet needs.
Mobile emergency response support personnel and teams have been
deployed to support the states with secure and non-secure voice,
video and information services, operations, and logistics support to
state response operations as well as with any potential requests for
assistance. FEMA disability integration advisers are also deployed to
advise emergency management on alert and warning, evacuation, and
sheltering needs.

At all times, FEMA
maintains commodities, including millions of liters of water,
millions of meals and hundreds of thousands of blankets,
strategically located at distribution centers throughout the U.S. and
its territories, including Atlanta, Ga., and Frederick, Md., if
needed and requested. FEMA distribution centers have an overall
inventory of more than 5 million liters of water, 3 million meals,
900,000 blankets and 100,000 cots. FEMA and the Department of Defense
established incident support bases in Westover, Mass., and Lakehurst,
N.J., to pre-position supplies including water, meals, blankets and
other resources closer to potentially impacted areas, should they be
needed and requested by states. As of Monday morning, FEMA had moved
roughly 200,000 liters of water, 100,000 meals and thousands of
blankets and cots to Westover Air Reserve Base; and more than 400,000
liters of water and more than 390,000 meals and thousands of cots to
Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, and more commodities were
en route, as weather conditions permitted.

"The emergency
management team, comprised of federal, state, tribal and local
governments, the private sector and voluntary and faith-based
organizations are all engaged in preparation for the storm,"
Fugate said. "Individuals need to stay safe, check on a
neighbor, and should follow the direction of state, tribal and local
officials and continue to monitor NOAA weather radio and local news
reports for the latest storm conditions."

The National Guard
currently has more than 1,900 personnel on state active duty in
states along the projected path of the storm, in preparation for
potential missions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mobilized
temporary emergency power resources to be pre-staged at incident
support bases to support critical resources in affected areas. These
resources consist of teams with technical expertise to assess
critical facility generator requirements and private sector contract
support to install and operate generators.

To support potential pre-
and post-storm evacuations, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services through Emergency Support Function 8, and FEMA have the
capability to activate ambulance contracts to support state
requirements to evacuate patients if needed and requested. At the
request of the state, more than 139 ambulances are positioned in New
York, and an additional 211 ambulances were deployed to New York.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services personnel also are
supporting health and human services needs in communities along the
East Coast that may be impacted by Hurricane Sandy. More than 160
personnel are deployed as part of the state and federal efforts. A
50-person disaster medical assistance team was deployed to provide
triage and basic care in two general population shelters in New
Jersey. These medical providers will help ensure the shelter can meet
the needs of residents seeking refuge there. Residents who require
greater medical care can be transported to medical shelters or
hospitals. An additional disaster medical assistance team remains
pre-staged in the mid-Atlantic, prepared to deploy quickly along the
East Coast if needed.

National Voluntary
Organizations Active in Disaster remains
in close communication with the East Coast state VOAD's to coordinate
on a regional, multi-state level. Currently 15 states have activated
their VOAD networks for readiness actions; the National VOAD is
sharing its activities and needs with all VOAD members and partners.

The
Department of Energy is working closely with FEMA, and in support of
state and local officials who are responsible for working with
utilities as they prepare for storms, deployed emergency response
personnel to FEMA regional response coordination centers in
Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, and additional personnel
are on standby to assist. DOE is working with states and local
partners as the electric industry begins the process of
pre-mobilizing storm and field personnel to assist in power
restoration efforts. Daily situation reports that detail the storm's
impacts and the restoration activities being taken by the energy
sector are available at www.doe.gov.

In preparation for the
storm, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ensured inspectors are
in place at all nuclear power plants that could potentially
experience impacts from the storm. Inspectors independently verify
that plant operators are making the proper preparations and taking
actions to ensure plant safety before, during and after the storm.
Nuclear power plant procedures require that the facilities be shut
down prior to any projected hurricane-force winds on-site.

FEMA activated its national
business emergency operations center. More than from retail,
transportation, food and groceries, building management, and other
industries receive daily briefings on key federal response efforts.
These briefings assist in federal and private sector planning
efforts, and provide a forum to discuss response efforts and
challenges that may arise for maintaining business operations and
provides the opportunity to collaborate on innovative solutions.

Severe
Weather, Preparedness and Winter Safety Actions

Individuals in affected
regions should continue to monitor NOAA Weather Radio and their local
news for updates and directions provided by their local and tribal
officials. State, tribal and local officials make determinations and
announcements about evacuations. The public is urged to listen to the
instructions of officials, and if told to evacuate, evacuate.

States,
localities and the Red Cross have been opening up emergency shelters
along the East Coast as local officials have announced evacuations
along the coast and low-lying areas. The FEMA smartphone app provides
safety tips and displays open shelter information at www.fema.gov/smartphone-app.
To find a shelter, people can download the Red Cross Hurricane app,
visit the Red Cross website, or call 1-800-RED CROSS
(1-800-733-2767).

Affected areas will
experience impacts on Wednesday and Thursday, and should be preparing
their family, home or business to lessen the impact of severe
weather, making sure to have an emergency plan, and emergency kits in
their homes, workplace and cars. Some of the items in a basic
emergency kit include: one gallon of water per person per day, for
drinking and sanitation; at least a three-day supply of
non-perishable food; battery-powered radio and a NOAA Weather Radio;
flashlight and extra batteries; and First Aid kit.

For people with
disabilities, plan for evacuation and sheltering with family or
friends, if possible, and if you require power for any
life-sustaining resources, have a plan and talk with local emergency
management to identify where you can get access to generator power or
charging stations. If you use consumable medical supplies or you have
dietary requirements, make sure you have what you need on hand.

Those in areas where the
storm is expected to produce snow should also have supplies in their
emergency kits such as rock salt or environmentally safe products to
melt ice on walkways, snow shovels, adequate clothing and blankets to
keep warm, and heating fuel such as dry, seasoned wood for the
fireplace or wood-burning stove. Both hurricanes and winter storms
often cause power outages. Take steps now to ensure you can sustain
yourself for at least 72 hours, if needed.

FEMA's mission is to
support citizens and first responders to ensure that, as a nation, we
work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to
prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate
all hazards.